E.F. Hutton was an old stock brokerage firm founded in the early 1900s by the Hutton brothers, Edward and Franklyn. It became most famous thanks to a series of ubiquitous television commercials in the 70s and 80s that all followed the same basic premise. Two business people are walking in a crowded - airport, park, elevator, etc - discussing vague business dealings amid the constant murmur of bustling people. One of them will say, "well, my broker's E.F. Hutton, and E.F. Hutton says..." and everyone around them suddenly falls silent. Then a narrator comes on and says, "when E.F. Hutton talks, people listen." The end. They'd tart setting it in more absurd situations, like swimming pools, garden parties or little children in a classroom, because it had become such a thing in pop culture. As a kid, everybody in the schoolyard would quote that line, and it mostly just left us wondering "who the hell is E.F. Hutton?"
Well, the 80s also saw E.F. Hutton run an early check kiting scam (something made popular again with the recent "Chase glitch"), a major mafia money laundering scheme, and go broke during the stock market crash, eventually dissolving in the early 90s. But we just knew the commercials. Not just in the playground, but in Hip-Hop, where it took off as a major, recurring punchline. It's not witty; everybody was just basically repeating a popular commercial tagline line in reference to themselves. It wasn't generally punny or making any kind of statement about crooked financial institutions. You wouldn't even accuse anyone of biting anyone else, because it was so basic and even kinda dumb, though of course everyone used it their own way.
Let's dive into all the instances!
"When my voice gets cuttin', everybody listens up like I'm E.F. Hutton."
Also in 1984, over on the west coast, the Triple Threat Three had already turned it into a more traditional punchline for their record "Scratch Motion."
"You know what I notice all of a sudden? When I speak people diss E.F. Hutton."
Then, in 1985, Kool Doobie of Whistle made it more famous by spitting it on a much more popular record, their debut classic "(Nothin' Serious) Just Buggin'." [And yes, I did come up with this post idea when quoting that record in my last article about P-Man.]
"I'm like E.F. Hutton, E.F. Hutton, E.F. Hutton when I start to talk; 'cause everybody listens. If they don't, then walk."
That same year, obscure Connecticut rapper Terrible T tripled it up it on his surprisingly catchy record "He's Terrible," where he employed similar commercial slogans like, "I'm finger lickin' good like Kentucky Fried Chicken."
"Like E.F. Hutton, when I talk, people listen."
The great Grandmaster Caz used the line sometime in '86-'87. We don't know for sure because "Good, Fresh, Down, Time" wasn't released until the 2006 Tuff City Ol' Skool Flava compilation.
"I'm Hip-Hop's E.F. Hutton, 'cause all the people listen."
In 1989, the not as great MC Twist used it on his album track "B-L-N-T" (which stands for "better luck next time").
"You talk shit, I get like E.F. Hutton: BLAOW!! Oh, y'all sure got quiet all of a sudden."
And the trend continued on into the 90s. On Greek's 1993 posse cut "Rhyme for Ya Life," K-Rino got finally started getting a little more clever with it.
"It's goin' through me, got me struttin'. When E.F. Hutton talks, everybody listens."
One of the ones people probably remember most is Mystikal closing out his breakout 1995 single "Mind of Mystikal" with this last line, though he kind of just lays it down as a random non-sequitur.
"Like E.F. Hutton, when I talk, niggas listen."
And other big names were using it to. On Mase's "Will They Die 4 You?," Lil Kim says it, even though by 1997 E.F. Hutton had pretty much ceased to exist. What did that matter? It was just clutter floating around in our collective subconscious.
"Like E.F. Hutton, don't say nothin'."
"Colonel nigga becoming the ghetto E.F. Hutton: holler 'UGHH' and every fuckin' soldier start stuntin'."
In 1998, Keith Murray used it on the Def Squad single "Ride Wit Us," as well as Silkk the Shocker on "I'm a Soldier." See if you can guess which is which.
"40 talk like E.F. Hutton. Shhh, people listen."
And on into the 2000s, E-40 said it on 2002's "Mustard & Mayonnaise."
"I'm in the hood where the guns is nothin', and niggas don't say shit, like E.F. Hutton."
And Cappadonna brought it up on his 2003 posse cut "We Got This."
The Beastie Boys finally put it to bed on their 2004 album To the 5 Boroughs, specifically with the song "Rhyme the Rhyme Well," where they conclude the song with a big celebration of the throwback reference. Mike D ends his last verse with the line, "now push the pause button, then start duckin'. Shh, you heard me like I'm E.F. Hutton." Then, as Mix Master Mike cuts loose with a copy of "Public Enemy No. 1," they start repeating, "E.F. Shhh, Hutton! Shhh, Hutton! Shhh, Hutton! Shhh, Hutton!" Could the shush be a nod to E-40's record? Maybe, but I'm more confident saying that the larger point of the E.F. Hutton routine was to embrace the endearing hoakiness of the random, and very old school recurring reference in our genre. and maybe it was an intentional move to quash it, since they did make it hard for MCs to use it again after this, at least unironically; and I can't think of anyone saying it on a record since.
Meanwhile, the more business savvy or socially conscious amongst us will be interested to hear that E.F. Hutton came back in the 2010s. Well, it quickly went into massive debt and closed down again. But then it was resurrected a second time in the 2020s. And now they've been uncovered as the company financially underwriting Donald Trump's Truth Social, and the new CEO has already been ousted for defrauding millions of dollars. Good times!
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Now I can't help but wonder whether PF Cuttin chose his moniker at least party because of EF Hutton ads ubiquity :)
ReplyDeleteAh yeah, you're probably right!
DeleteThe punk band Adrenalin OD got into the act with their song, “Yuppies” (obviously 1980s): “Their broker’s E.F. Hutton/When they talk I don’t listen.”
ReplyDelete